Cape Comment 3-28-08

Friday

Mar 28, 2008 at 2:00 AM

Ed Semprini

CHOWDAH BOWL: Get ready for it! It’s going to happen sooner rather than later. And the teen-agers will introduce it – a new dance craze that will sweep Chatham and eventually across all sections of the Cape. All the result of a headline above a Cape Cod Times photograph that read “North Beach Shuttle.” The photo showed a cottage being shuttled across Chatham’s popular North Beach, following the break during a January storm. Get ready for it! Chatham, birthplace of the new dance craze, “North Beach Shuttle.” Polish the dancing shoes and shuttle…. Chopper Keeps Chopping: This guy is something else when it comes to oysters. He’s “Chopper” Young of Wellfleet who has gained nationwide attention and won a freightcar-load of trophies for his uncanny ability to speedily shuck oysters. He came home with more hardware earlier this month, won at the annual Boston Seafood Shuck-Off…. Aprilis: Come April, come April Fools Day, come Aprilis, the month we love to hate; the hypocritical, laughable pretext for the introduction to a warm and color-splashed Springtime; the wretched month that shames its delightful name. Come April, and we must recall a late golfing companion, Barry DeStefano, whose dislike of April ran as deep as CC’s, and who enjoyed shouting as he traipsed along the fairways: “I hate April.”…. It’s the mystique: Temporarily, but only temporarily, for sure, a shipwreck has washed over the oyster as Wellfleet’s No. 1 attraction. Commenting on why a shipwreck attracts large numbers of curiosity seekers, George Price, director of Cape Cod National Seashore, told Cape Cod Voice’s Doreen Leggett, “The scene is mystical. They feel connected to Cape Cod.”…. Don’t miss it: The next “Howl at the Moon” event on Nantucket is scheduled for April 20, the date of the full moon, The sponsors say you can take your dog – on a leash…. Tribute to Hero: The news of the death of a Cape Codder who was a heroic Coast Guard Gold Medal recipient was relayed to the cape from Cape Elizabeth, Me. Coast Guard Captain W. Russell Webster (retired) paid tribute to Richard Livesey, one of four crewmembers who made Coast Guard history in the Pendleton rescue off Chatham in 1952. In a communication to The Cape Codder newspaper Webster wrote: “He left a quiet legacy of courage…awarded the service’s highest award for bravery.” Livesey, 77, died in Englewood, Fla., in late February… Parlez-Vous: When Alain M. Moniz addressed Falmouth High School students he was known to them as a school custodian and a native of Senegal. His talk was a part of the school’s Foreign Language International Week. The students quickly learned Moniz was not foreign to languages. He told them he speaks five: English, French, Cape Verdean, Portuguese, and Wolof, the language of Senegal, West Africa…. Probate Patter: The outgoing Republican official encouraging a prominent Democrat to seek election to the select Barnstable County seat of Register of Probate? That could be a first of its kind of political action in that old courthouse building in Barnstable Village. Longtime Register of Probate Frederic P. Claussen of Cotuit (39 years) is retiring at the end of this term. He then announced that he had encouraged Eric Turkington of Falmouth, a state rep for some 20 years, to seek the post. “He pitched it to me last year,” Turkington told the Falmouth Enterprise, which said Claussen tapped Turkington because of his background as a lawyer. Claussen’s action would appear to give Turkington a hefty shove out of the starting gate. • • • You’re way up there, Morris, if you remember when the Fox Trot was the dance craze…. Barnstable history buffs should know in which village the one-time Elizabeth Lowell High School was located. Answer below. • • • Newsquotes: “Kids are too sedentary in this day and age. Pay and play would only discourage students further from playing, and continue to increase obesity.” – Sean Mitchell of Nantucket, on issue of students paying to take part in sports. (in Inquirer & Mirror of Nantucket). ….”There is a festering cancer of intolerance in Provincetown.” – David McGlothlin, Provincetown High School teacher, citing the need for civility in the town. (In The Cape Codder). • • • Columnist Comment: “….I must say, if he (Barack Obama) were a Muslim, so what? Are we really so small-minded that the idea of having a president that is (gasp!) of a non-Christian faith is just cause to reject him outright. Grow up, people.” – Falmouth Enterprise columnist Michael C. Bailey. • • • Press Speaks Out: “…with no offense intended to some Mid and Upper Cape towns, the fast food and other chain businesses found elsewhere have no place on the Lower and Outer Cape,,,: (The Cape Codder). • • • Query answer: Cotuit. • • • Newsquote: “The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary.”

Published Date: 3/28/08

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.